Film4 Ideology

Looking for Eric 

 In looking for Eric, the main character would be Eric who works as a postman and also suffers from a mental illness where he can imagine a famous footballer talking to him and telling him what he should do. Eric lives with his 2 sons who got themselves into some trouble with a dangerous gang and police. This film would follow the Film4 ideology as it shows what happen in real life. It's believable. The film is shot in Manchester(in the lower class area). this would follow the Film4 ideology as they have filmed it in a real place which the audience would see as it is in real life. the location hasn't been exaggerated to make it look better( its unvarnished). In the film there are some British cultural references such as the language and accent. the fact that they use the word 'football' is English and other people(not British) call it soccer. The film ends with violence which is a typical for Film4 films but isn't an escapist film as it has a happy ending.

Submarine

The film submarine is about a 15 year old boy called Oliver Tate who falls in love with a girl in his school and tries to sort out his parents relationship issues. whilst trying to get his parents problems sorting out and in between the emotional scenes of when his girlfriend's mum might die from cancer, he gets lost and is dumped by his girlfriend. The boy seems quite depressed and disturbed from all the problems and thinks of what would happen if he dies. this is a negative way of thinking and shows that in real life everything is not always good and positive. The end of the film is left as a cliff hanger. this shows that the like in real life, the story continues. This would be one of the ideology Flim4 follows as it's making the film realistic/believable. The location this film is set in was Wales, in a normal area which people would see on a daily basis. The location picked makes the ideology of making it as if it was a real story seem more true. 

Four Lions 

Four lions is about 4 Muslim terrorists(jihads). This film was made after the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists. We can tell that these characters are from Britain as they have a British accent. The locations that have been used are in London and Spain and others. In the film they did not say anything about Spain but did talk about the film. The locations they used were realistic as they were either in a old unvarnished area of London(flats near trains) or in the desert. In the end all of the main characters died which is a typically ending Film4 likes to have. this represents that in real life there aren't always happy ending like in Hollywood films. In the film the British cultural references would be the language(dialogue and songs) the characters use. The is some violence in the film but not much.

Hunger
The movie 'Hunger is about an Irish republican called bobby Sands( a prisoner). he goes on a hunger strike with the rest of the inmates in the prison. Film4 aims towards realistic life problems; this is shown through this film as it shows the hardships the man has to go through in the prison he lives in.  The violence used is a typically used by Film4 to show their ideology of real life. This is also a film based on a real story which supports Film4's ideology. The British cultural references is the film would be the police men; their uniform.

Attack the block   

Attack the block is about a group of teenagers who try to defend the block as it is being attacked by aliens, hence the name on the film. The target audience for this film would be male teenagers are they would be interested in these type of films. The film has British cultural references through the language used. The language(details) would be a typical teenagers slang such as 'ting' and 'blud'. These words wouldn't be understood in other countries as much as in England as it has a English reference.  There is also a mention of the football game 'Fifa';this would be a British cultural reference. Film4's ideology would be followed by the location the film is yet in and the teenagers attitude. The location is set in a 'low down' part of London which represents what it would actually look like; it is unvarnished. The film isn't real as it has aliens in it which wouldn't follow that part of Film4's ideology.

The Inbetweeners movie

 This film is about a group of four boys who go on holiday, after their education is over, to have a good time. This film is a entertaining film therefore isn't like the other films Film4 makes. The characters are represented as typical teenagers who want to have fun by going to parties etc... The ideology does work when the plan of their exciting holiday doesn't turn out the way they expect. this would represent that not everything is prefect is life. the fact that this film is quite entertaining changes the attitude towards what other people might have the impression of British lives. There can be good times too.



Edit Workshop Evaluation

I had to make a short video with the following shots; 180 degree rule, rule of thirds, match on action and shot-reverse-shot. Rule of thirds was used throughout the Continuity editing exercise. 180 degree rule was used during the conversation between both the characters. I first showed a shot of Priya talking to Rachel then switched to a shot of Rachel to see her reaction and then went back to the first shot of Priya. 

 



 In these shots, I have also followed shot-reverse. The 180 degree rule as I made sure that the camera was on one side of both the actors and I didn't start filming on the other side as the audience would get confused and it could break the rule.

 

Rule of thirds. During filming I made sure that the actor's eyes are a third way down the screen to follow this rule.

During the production the challenges I faced were to make sure the camera was in the right position so I could get the right shots. If I made the film again I would make sure I shot all the angles properly and that the rule of thirds applies to all the shots. In the post production I found it a bit difficult to edit because the software I used was a new version of Imovie. I have had some experience with using the old Imovie but the layout and different techniques of editing had change which made my work a bit harder. If I edited again I would add a few more better transitions and cut the shots a bit shorter so the whole video is not longer than a minute as the maximum seconds was 60. 

My overall strengths would be digital technology as I knew what I was doing.  During the post production and I did have help with using the new software. I also knew how to use the HD video camera and the tripod. The weakness I had was in the planning was deciding what shots to have and where to have them in the video. I also had to include the certain shots required (both the rules, match on action and shot-reverse-shot).

Shot-reverse-shot ----->

The main improvement I would give would be to make would be the production. The shots weren't as good as I wanted them to be and they needed improvement.

My Media AS video

Continuity Editing Exercise

For this piece of work I was given the basic task for creating a short 30 to 60 second scenario with the basic story line of a person walks into the room, has a conversation with the other person who is sitting on the chair and then leaves the room. I was paired with Priya Lal for this piece of work. From the basic story line of the task, we added our own ideas and expanded the story line. we changed the location and made the actors into friends in the scenario. Our story line was that a friend was running late and she called her other friend to meet her in the park to tell her some urgent news. but the friend was actually just joking and didn't really have anything to tell her so pretended as if she had forgotten. in this scenario, we had to have the following shots to show what we can do filming wise. those shots were: 180 degree rule, match on action, shot-reverse-shot and the rule of thirds. we also had to use a different variety of shots such as close ups, long shots, high angle, etc...

The 180 degree rule is when the camera is on one side of both the actors and can only stay on that side.

Match on action is the when the action happening the the shot matches with a different shot but the continuation of that action. in this task the match on action would be when Priya rides through the park gates and when she opens the other small gates. Shot-reverse-shot is when the audience is shown a shot, then a different shot of something different and then back to the first shot. The rule of thirds is when all the actors eyes are about a third way down the camera.

I enjoyed working with Priya as we got along fine and completed the work without any problems. I think the scenario could have used a bit more creativity as the story line was a bit basic. We had a bike for a prop which is a creative and a different idea from other similar pieces of work. Our scenario was a comedy which a lot more different to all the other videos made like this as their mood was either full of  pressure or a really positive mood.

The storyboard made was quite helpful as it showed me which shots I need to film, the type of angle/shot its meant to be, who needs to be in the shot and where it is located. Priya made the first half of the storyboard and I made the second. We  both worked together on deciding which shots goes where so there wouldn't be no confusion when it came to actually filming. We individually did the editing and came up with our own versions of the scenario. In my version I left out a few scenes as they were not needed as much.